Mission Impossible?

Coffee in the Montreal skyline mug,"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross and the Supremes on iTunes. I think they're wrong: I think there IS a mountain high enough, and it's called Monday. No, wait, it's called THIS WEEK. At least the studio is back ship shape again. Carol cracked the whip over me till everything was back in its place Friday and I was in production again.

Elsewhere in my little glass world... The book is now only 4 pages over the length limit--after the overview was cut... and I am really peeved about it. The editor went out of her way to tell me how many pages, how many words per page, how many photos, yada, yada, ya. I followed the guidelines, and whoops! Somehow I am miraculously almost 10 pages over. I think they need a better page count estimate spreadsheet. So I have some major cutting to do this week and I have no idea what or where. I have a strong feeling this is going to hurt. This morning I still need to wrap up the project re-writes and send them to my other editor... and one of them is *very* long. Of course it is the wall sconce that the main editor threw in on Dec. 5 so I don't feel too badly about that, but I know she is going to insist something else be cut. Something I think should be in. Something like the explanation of compatibility of glasses or coefficient of expansion and viscosity. Something actually important beyond the barest of hobbiest levels. Something... hard and dry and boring to the unscientific (like me), but very important nonetheless.

Got another commission yesterday, the last one I was waiting on from the One of a Kind Show. That brings this week's fusing obligations up to three 34" X 15" hanging panels, three 3.5" X 8" sushi plates, two Cloudstone bowls, and a 20" round display panel for a wrought iron stand. Oh yes, and all the pieces I need for the BMAC next week that aren't done yet. That aren't even identified yet. Need to identify and schedule them today to so I can squeeze them with the rest.

And speaking of firing, I have some Cloudstone and orchid melt pieces that I finished over the weekend and want to turn into boxes. I think I might try four at a time in the medium kiln. Could be spectacular, could be disaster. Could be spectacular disaster, but let's stay optimistic, shall we? Oh yes, and one more necklace project redo for the book to squeeze in somewhere. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

Other than that it will be a light week (snort): Mailing list to update for postcards, postcards to mail, photos for ad in the wholesalecrafts.com buyer's guide to clean and upload, the samples to finish and ship to the Art Institute in Chicago so they can evaluate them for inclusion in the 2007 fall/winter catalogs, and the fine detail of the studio finances for 2006 to enter into the computer and get to the accountant (it took three days to do the broad brushstrokes part...). I had the papers all sorted, organized and stacked neatly, and now they are covered by another three week's worth of paper and detritus. It'll take a dedicated archaeological expedition just o uncover them. Where is Dr. Mike Adler when you need him? (I like this photo better. Looks more like he did when we were egging cars when we were in high school in Montana...).

But back to the mountain... She is high enough, and she is now. (Hey Mike, remember this photo? The first view of the Mission Mountains over the top Ravalli hill and around the big curve?)